Pharmacies to install safes with time delays

More than 4,700 community pharmacies in Ontario are now required to install time-delayed safes for narcotics and high-risk drugs in response to a rise in robberies. The Ontario College of Pharmacists (OCP), which regulates the province’s community and hospital pharmacies, announced the decision at a board meeting last Tuesday. There is a grace period for pharmacies to order and install the safes. Pharmacies must also display visible signage to alert people about the safes. Time-delayed safes prevent access for a preprogrammed amount of time once a combination is entered. According to data provided by the Toronto Police Service, the number of pharmacy robberies in the city more than doubled from 49 in 2021 to 123 thefts in 2022.